Sandblasting, using compressed air, is traditionally used to prepare surfaces for coatings. The sharp particles of aluminum oxide or other media abrade the surface. Incidental corrosion, rust, and old coatings are removed in the process, leaving a good surface for paint adhesion.

However, substrates other than steel can often not tolerate this aggressive surface preparation and, as a consequence, wet chemical strippers are employed to remove coatings. Aluminum, brass and plastic composites, including fiberglass, are often treated in this way.

Using plastic abrasives has been proven to significantly reduce the generation of hazardous waste that using wet chemical strippers can cause. In addition, the use of plastic abrasives has proven to be faster, less damaging to the substrate and much less expensive than wet chemicals. Since the plastic abrasive is harder than the coatings to be removed, yet softer than the substrate, coatings can actually be stripped three or four times without damage to the surface.

Plastic abrasives are sensitive to substrates, including aluminum and other delicate metals, composites and plastics, yet tough enough to take care of the most demanding decoating and surface finishing needs efficiently.

Acrylic – Acrylic media is the longest lasting media on the market. It is very gentle on the substrate and engineered for stripping the most sensitive surfaces while providing an effective stripping rate. Acrylic media offers an excellent range of stripping capabilities and is termed a multi-purpose media by its users.

Melamine – Melamine is engineered for stripping the most difficult surfaces while providing an effective stripping rate. Melamine is the most aggressive plastic abrasive, offering an excellent range of stripping capabilities. Melamine can be used as a replacement for glass beads and other harsh abrasives.

Urea – Urea is a plastic grain stripping abrasive used in sandblasting operations. It is the most widely used plastic media. Urea is environmentally friendly and recyclable – an alternative to chemical stripping. Urea is formulated to meet an increased level of stripping performance where stripping speed outweighs other considerations. Urea is able to strip tough coatings with an impressive strip rate. Urea is typically used for less sensitive applications.

Pumice

Pumice is a naturally occurring mineral formed by the solidification of lava that is permeated with gas bubbles. Pumice powder is recommended as a mild abrasive in glass treatments, electronic circuit board scrubbing, dental pastes & cosmetic exfoliants.

Pumice grains are commonly used as texturing additives in coatings and inks and lightweight fillers in plasters and paints. Pumice pellets are used as biological filtration media, catalyst support media and lightweight resin fill.

Aluminium Oxide

White Aluminum Oxide is a 99.5% ultra pure grade of blast media used in critical, high-performance microdermabrasion equipment. The purity of this media along with the variety of grit sizes available make it ideal for both traditional microdermabrasion processes as well as high-quality exfoliating creams.

White aluminum oxide blast media has a wide variety of applications, including cleaning engine heads, valves, pistons and turbine blades in the aircraft.

Glass Beads

Glass Beads are manufactured from lead-free, soda lime-type glass, containing no free silica that is made into preformed ball shapes. Glass beads produce a much smoother and brighter finish than angular abrasives when used as a blast media.

Glass beads can be recycled approximately 30 times. Chemically inert and environmentally friendly, glass beads are an acceptable method of metal cleaning or surface finishing when properly controlled.
Glass beads which conform to mil. specification G-9954A and S-13165C are also available from stock.

Crushed Glass (Recycled Glass)

Crushed Glass, also known as Recycled Glass, is manufactured from recycled bottle glass. Crushed Glass delivers superior performance relative to mineral/slag abrasives. The angular particles in crushed glass allow for aggressive surface profiling and removal of coatings such as epoxy, paint, alkyds, vinyl, polyurea, coal tar and elastomers when used as a blast media.

Crushed Glass is lighter in weight than many slags, allowing for increased consumption efficiency and production time – up to 50% less glass grit used. Crushed glass delivers very low particle embedment, which produces a whiter, cleaner finish. Similar to many slags, crushed glass grit has a hardness of 5.0 – 6.0 on the Moh’s Hardness Scale.

As Crushed Glass is manufactured from recycled bottle glass, it contains no free silica which is commonly found in blasting sand. The use of post-consumer glass directly benefits the environment by diverting waste from landfills. Crushed Glass is free of heavy metals such as arsenic, lead, asbestos, beryllium, titanium, etc., all typically found in coal and mineral slags.

Crushed Glass is cleaned using a proprietary flashing process to separate paper and plastic from the glass. Making sure that the paper and plastic is not burned onto the glass provides a cleaner, higher quality product ready for optimal performance. At this point, the glass has an extremely low moisture content and a cleanliness level that far exceeds the industry standard.

Silicon Carbide

Silicon Carbide is the hardest blasting media available. Silicon carbide abrasives have sharp edges ideal for blasting and a very fast cutting speed. It can be recycled and reused many more times than either sand or aluminum oxide. The hardness of silicon carbide allows for much shorter blast times.

Silicon carbide grit is the ideal media for use on glass and stone in both suction and direct pressure blast systems. The ability to be recycled multiple times results in a cost-effective grit blast media with optimal etching results.

Since silicon carbide grit is harder than aluminum oxide, it can be used efficiently for glass engraving and stone etching. Silicon carbide blast media has no free silica, does not generate static electricity and is manufactured to contain minimal magnetic content.